IN 1970 Margaret Court became the first woman in the open era to win the singles Grand Slam (all four major tournaments in a calendar year).
The youngest player in history to win the Australian Open at 17, "the Aussie Amazon" then won 24 singles, 19 doubles and 21 mixed doubles titles, for an extraordinary career record of 64 major titles overall.
Yet Margaret Court is a controversial figure today for often hard-line religious views.
This long-awaited autobiography explains what lit a fire in the poor girl from Albury and made her the greatest champion tennis has seen and the fierce woman she is.
Court was born in 1942 to a hard-living father and acutely agoraphobic mother. Her first 'racquet' was an old fence paling, but after winning French, US and Wimbledon championships as a teenager, she held the world #1 ranking for seven of her 17 years on the professional circuit, touring with two of her four children during her long reign. Her singles career had a winning percentage of 91.74 per cent on all surfaces.
Nearly 40 years after her final match, Margaret's achievement of 64 championships remain an all-time record. Her unrivalled success places her in the company of Don Bradman and Rod Laver as one of the most extraordinary sportspeople our country will ever produce.
But having risen so high Margaret fell hard in retirement.
Becoming a born again Christian in 1972, Margaret retired from professional tennis to be with her husband and children in 1977.
After a period of depression and seclusion she became an ordained minister and founded Margaret Court Ministries and Victory Life Churches.
Today, 'Pastor Marg' preaches to 1500+ every Sunday and feeds thousands of Perth's lost, homeless and hungry via her charities.
Never one to shy away from the spotlight, Margaret's life and career has been characterised by principles and fearlessness.
Her autobiography moves with the fast pace Margaret exhibited on the tennis court, from her humble beginnings as the fourth child of Maude and Lawrence Smith, who came into the world as the result of a difficult birth that almost killed both her and her mother.
She quotes a saying on the book's first page that 'those who survive a near death experience when young come to value life, to be fighters - tough, determined characters who hate to lose'.
Albury in those days was a rustic road-and-rail junction, population 15,000 and Margaret's devout Catholic mother instilled not only a fear of God in her daughters but also a strong sense of moral values.
"From the time I could walk or rather, run, my mother could never come to terms with my adventurous spirit, unbridled energy and love of the dangerous(to her way of thinking) outdoors."
Tennis was something Margaret discovered on her own with an old fence paling hitting a "battered, and hairless old tennis ball" against the garage wall and thus began a stellar career.
Margaret's life, like most people's has been one of challenge, triumph, disappointment and tragedy, but in her case it has been played out on the highly visible world-stage of professional tennis.
Margaret's story moves through her tennis career to her religious epiphany, her experience of becoming a born again Christian, miscarriage, religious visions, health problems, her search for her life's purpose and the founding of her own ministry.
- Margaret Court The Autobiography, Pan MacmillanAustralia $44.99 www.panmacmillan.com.au